Chapter 81
Chapter 81
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 81
Chapter Title: Side Story - Memories of a Certain Princess (5)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“I won, I won! I won! I beat you!”
I shot a displeased look at Lea, who was laughing gleefully and running around the room.
“Ugh… Your Highness…”
“Yes, Lea. In this match, it wasn’t you who…”
I tried to explain the truth to Lea, who looked dejected, but she reacted a little differently than I expected.
“There’s no need to be so upset about losing to me, Your Highness!”
“That’s. What. I’ve. Been. Saying! Why are you acting so smug, Lea? You’re just moving around as my proxy since I can’t use magic!”
After our first strategy match, I’d gotten strategic chess—the same kind used in the Imperial Army’s strategy room—right away when I saw Ast using those fun bombardments.
Strategic chess is a game where you select troops and units based on points allotted to you, infuse them with magic power, and issue specific commands. After a set time, they carry out those actions.
For example, if you infuse a knight’s piece with magic and set it to move, attack, or defend, the piece moves on its own.
Unlike regular chess where players alternate turns moving pieces, here all pieces move simultaneously once a turn ends.
In other words, you don’t react to your opponent’s moves—you have to predict how they’ll move and position your own pieces accordingly.
If you attack while moving, you take heavy damage, but if you defend against an attack, you minimize losses.
There are also unit matchups, so attacking an unfavorably matched opponent that’s defending can trigger a counterattack.
On top of that, certain units have unique abilities—like knights’ charges, wizards’ spells, or magic engineers’ assaults—making it a game that really taxes the brain.
In short, Lea sucks at this game.
She sucks hard.
Once, a knight commander who admired her swordsmanship tried training her in command skills through strategic chess to build her qualities as a leader.
The result was disastrous.
129 matches: 0 wins, 0 draws, 129 losses.
They kept lowering the opponent’s level until she faced a student who’d just enrolled at Mercedia—and still lost.
That student was a farmer’s son who hadn’t studied anything combat-related and had enrolled to become a merchant.
She’d gone all out against him and lost by a hair.
And now, after beating me, she was telling me not to be disappointed.
This wasn’t just a humiliation for me—it was a disgrace to the imperial family and the entire empire.
“Ast, again.”
To shut her up, the best thing was another round.
My win rate was solid—out of 10 games, I’d win 7 or 8.
Ast occasionally pulled off unexpected moves, but my fundamentals were superior.
“Your Highness, it’s about time for lunch.”
“That’s exactly why we need to play now, Ast.”
Ast objected about mealtime, but that only made me demand a rematch harder.
“She’ll be bragging to the maids the whole lunch if she’s this excited.”
A normal person wouldn’t boast about beating royalty.
No—they’d keep quiet.
But Lea? Just like the knights called her abnormal for her age as a swordsman, I saw her as a bit mentally off too.
In other words, Lea was someone whose body and mind were far from common sense.
“Hah, very well.”
And there was another abnormal one right in front of me.
Ast, sighing heavily in front of royalty who’d given an order, muttering, “I heard today’s lunch is the chef’s ambitious creation…”
Really, my one and only guard and butler were abnormal.
“Alright, Lea, Ast—let’s start. For a quick game, regiment scale.”
Perfect. With Ast, it filled the gap that Lea alone couldn’t.
I’d been teasing just Lea for months, but now I could branch out.
I couldn’t have imagined this a few months ago.
“Your Highness, we’ll win this one too!”
“Um, Lady Lea. Don’t you just do what I tell you?”
“Eek! My role is the most important, Sir Ast! The pieces won’t even move without me!”
“Any passing maid would do, but… well, at least this way your salary isn’t wasted, Lady Lea.”
“Hold on, Sir Ast? Doesn’t that mean I don’t do anything?”
“Your Highness, this strategic chess is quite useful. It’s making Lady Lea use her brain…”
“Sir Ast!”
Unlike a normal chessboard, we infused magic into the huge board covered in terrain, and it lit up as the surrounding space darkened.
It wasn’t actually altering space—just an illusion spell making it look that way for the players.
“Alright then.”
The empire—and Ast’s old kingdom—rarely saw the sea, yet Ast was strong at naval and air battles.
His ground forces weren’t useless, but the gap compared to his navy and air ops was huge.
Earlier, he’d lost because of a magic engineer air unit ambush, using engineers as transports for wizards to concentrate firepower and hit-and-run.
So this time, I’d use air units myself?
“Regiment scale means air-heavy leaves ground thin.”
Magic engineers cost almost as many points as wizards in strategic chess.
Unlike wizards who could wipe ground forces instantly with massive firepower, engineers’ output was weaker.
The bombardments Ast invented—and my magic engineer unit refined—had real punch, but strategic chess hadn’t implemented them yet.
So at regiment points, a squad of 10 engineers was optimal.
“But he’ll probably use engineers again thinking that?”
I pushed to platoon-size: 40.
Knights suffered, but I bulked with cheap conscripts and mid-tier infantry.
Another tactic from Ast—he loved swarming with low-point cannon fodder.
[Commencing battle.]
[Terrain: Plains.]
[Scale: Regiment.]
[Atia Force VS Lea Force]
[Battle begins.]
“No lunch till I win.”
I vowed an overwhelming victory to silence Lea.
“Magic engineer platoons: suppress mana signatures in pairs, move to targets. Ground forces: defend.”
Slower speed, but I repeated mana suppression for the ambush.
“Huh?”
Ast’s knights smashed my base, game over.
We skipped lunch that day.
#10 Their Circumstances: Some Villain's Circumstances
“Let’s do our best again, Sir Ast!”
“Yes, yes, Lady Lea.”
I smiled at the excited Lady Lea despite nothing happening.
Yeah, protagonists always have proxies.
They grow stronger by directing proxies in matches.
Legends of proxy battles: proxy masters who pulled Pharaoh strings, left bloodstains on go boards—folks who fit a ghost story special all got strong themselves.
One beat the Pharaoh he proxied for; another got sent back to his old world but still powered up.
“We’ll win this one too, right?”
Of course, expecting that growth from Lady Lea was wrong—but still!
“Yes, Lady Lea. If we combine our strength, we can fight any foe.”
“Then let’s begin!”
Lady Lea and Her Highness stared seriously at the strategic chess board.
I couldn’t experience it, but infusing magic made units move in a VR-like simulation where they couldn’t see each other.
Simply put: VR StarCraft!
“Sir Ast, how should we build our forces?”
Lady Lea groaned, staring ahead.
Normally I’d think, but I was hungry.
So: end quick, eat lunch quick.
“All knights.”
“Huh? All knights against Her Highness? Too risky.”
I declared confidently to her surprise.
“It’s fine. I have a plan.”
My plan: rush, get wiped, eat the chef’s dish fast!
“Is that so? If Sir Ast says it, I believe you.”
Hey, believing so easily hits my conscience, knight lady.
“Started. Orders.”
“All forces: shortest path charge. Continue.”
“Sir Ast?”
Her confused face was perfect.
Only offense is the best defense! —or so Her Highness seemed, but she actually favored defense.
Especially against provocative rushes—she countered thoroughly.
Dragging to a war of attrition to strangle foes was her style. Knight charges were suicide.
“It’s fine. I have a plan. Believe me like I said.”
“I believe you, Sir Ast.”
I could picture her rushing me post-game.
But hunger first.
“Charge, charge, charge, charge!”
“Got it!”
She kept ordering charges without suspicion.
Her Highness’s forces were probably shredding our knights by now.
“Hm?”
Weird.
I’m immune to the magic, so I don’t hear Her Highness, but I see faces.
Call it half-map hack mode.
I’d judged key moments by her expressions before…
Why the bad face?
“No way… we’re winning?”
Glancing at Lea: thrilled.
Just knight rush, nothing else—and winning?!
“We won! As expected of Sir Ast!”
Soon, sparkling-eyed Lea stared intensely; Her Highness bit her lip, glaring.
“Playing dirty?”
Your Highness? I just did a blind rush.
What’s “playing dirty”? I just want lunch!
“Again.”
“Your Highness, lunch time…”
“Quiet. Division scale this time.”
“Bigger scale?!”
“Great, Your Highness! I accept!”
“I’m the player—why’s Lady Lea so confident?”
“Great, start!”
“Even Her Highness?”
Bold Lea shouted; Her Highness got serious, competitive.
This is bad.
They’ll keep going till she wins.
No lunch? My stomach rioted harder.
“All knights again, full charge!”
“Yes, since Sir Ast says so, I believe!”
Same knight rush.
She wouldn’t fall for it twice!
“Grr… Again!”
My faith triggered her trap card!
Base razed again, she chewed her lip, glaring, yelling.
“Charge! Charge! All charge, idiot!”
“Yes! Got it, Sir Ast!”
Next game: knight rush again!
Third loss makes her three-peat… no, three-rush Princess.
No way the famed royal princess falls to same build—cheese rush!
“Ugh… Ast, you’ll keep this up?”
Like the elders said, “no way” killed.
Gleeful Lea taunted; Her Highness accepted, glaring.
Time for reverse: not rush, new tactic!
“Again, again, again!”
Matches continued till my 30% win rate neared 50%.
I cried from no lunch; the chef, prepping his masterpiece confidently, cried too.